


Strawberries

by skiittlebox



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, and also in love, but i just think theyre Very Neat, chiaki and hinata are mentioned like 4 times, hand holding, i am burning in rarepair hell, please consider this ship thanks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-25 17:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20915990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skiittlebox/pseuds/skiittlebox
Summary: just before the new school year starts, midori and yuuta reflect on the previous year and what the next holds for each of them.





	Strawberries

The breeze in the air carried not only the chill of early spring, but also the sweet scent of the blooming cherry blossoms. It was cold enough to almost be unpleasant, but the chill also ushered in a sense of a new start; a new school year was on the horizon.

It was something Midori didn’t like to think about.

Something about the whole situation didn’t seem… right. Of course, he would still be in Ryuseitai, along with his unitmates, but it would be different this year for sure. Most notably, the constantly doting nature of his hot-blooded captain would be completely absent this year, as well as the almost-cryptic nature of the unit’s former co-captain.

He knew he would miss those antics this year, having gotten so accustomed and almost attached to them. It would be lonely without them.

But now wasn’t the time to think about it. Today, finishing the work on the strawberry plantation was the main goal.

Even after doing the brunt of the work with Shinobu and the members of 2wink, there were still strawberries that remained unpicked, even after the public had their chance to take what they wanted. Of course, he was the one who was being sent by his relatives to clean up the leftovers before everything went bad which would result in even more yelling by his parents, but at least there wasn’t as much to do as there was a few days ago. He had even asked 2wink to come back to help him today in an effort to get to know them better, something he found himself wanting to do, along with the fact that the two had offered to help again if needed.

He tapped at his phone for what seemed like the tenth time in only the minute. The mid-afternoon hours were starting to fade, but no signs of the twins… was he going to have to do this alone? His messages said that they had both read the message, and one of them had even responded with an enthusiastic “okay! ^_^” with a cute strawberry emoji at the end of the message…

He let out a heavy sigh as he bent down and picked up one of the many wicker baskets to put the strawberries in. It was going to be a long day, doing all of this work alone; it reminded him of his parents and the work he had to do for the greengrocer shop in a way. A large workload, and not even being paid for a minute of work he put into these things…

As he walked into the back of the plantation, he found himself stopping in his tracks. He heard footsteps from behind him…

“Midori-kun! Sorry I’m late!”

Midori turned around, and gave a small yet relieved smile. “Oh, Aoi-kun… uh… which one are you…?” He examined the twin in front of him. “Um… are you Yuuta-kun, perhaps?”

“Wow, good guess. And you’re actually right!” Yuuta smiled at Midori. “So, you needed a little more help out here?”

Midori nodded, and leaned a bit to the side to see behind Yuuta. Strange: where was Hinata? He said he was going to come, with that happy emoticon and emoji after all...

Yuuta seemed to pick up on Midori’s look. “Aniki isn’t coming today.”

“Hmm? Why’s that?”

“He’s already occupied by other matters.” He brought his phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen a few times. “The other members of Ryuseitai invited him to hang out before school starts in a bit. Well, Aniki was invited by Tetora-kun, and Shinobu-kun tried to invite me, but… I would feel bad leaving all this work up to you.” Yuuta had a sheepish, almost embarrassed smile on his face. “So… it’s just me and you today.”

Midori sighed, then crouched down and plucked a strawberry off the plant he was hunched next to. “Well that’s too bad… guess it’ll take longer with only us two here…”

Yuuta knelt down next to Midori, then offered him a smile. “Well, at least it’s not just you working out here, right? At least I’ll take some of the burden off your shoulders, and we don’t have much left to do, too.”

The taller of the two let out a chuckle, almost like it was forced. “I suppose you’re right… but that’s still work I’d rather not be doing… I’d rather die than work here…”

Silence fell between the two fairly quickly, and the only sounds were the rustling of the strawberry plants and the occasional footsteps whenever either of them moved to a new area of the plantation. Although the lack of any other sounds wasn’t unbearable, it was still a little bit unnerving.

Midori lifted his head up to peer over the strawberry plants, and a few rows down, Yuuta was intently focused on the task at hand. Occasionally, he would see the twin examine a berry with squinted eyes and the quite frequent blep of the tongue before adding it into the basket. Midori knew from a few days ago that Yuuta didn’t like sweet things, so he showed him what the less sweet variety of the fruit looked like. Yuuta must’ve been looking for those strawberries to perhaps snack on later, and it made Midori smile.

It was kind of cute, if he had to be honest.

He looked down, and his hand was hovering near a fresh, red berry. That stark and bright crimson, unafraid to show and display that color… 

Midori yanked the berry off the plant and tossed it into his basket. His mind was wandering again, and it just made him depressed. There was no Chiaki this year, and whether he liked it or not, he knew that he already missed Chiaki even before the school year started.

“...Yuuta-kun?”

“Oh?” Yuuta’s head popped up from behind the bushes. “Do you need some help over there?” Before Midori could say anything else, Yuuta was already standing up, brushing the dirt off his knees, and scurrying to where Midori was. “What is it?”

Midori sighed, then set his basket down. “I… wanted to ask about the school year coming up.” He stood up and stared at the numerous cherry blossom trees in view from the plantation. “What do you think is going to happen next year?”

Yuuta remained crouched down, eyes focused on the strawberries. “I mean, surely things won't be too different, right?” As he spoke, he took a few berries off the plants, and then he quietly laughed. “Y’know, I actually asked Aniki if I could take over leadership of 2wink this year.”

“Did he let you?”

The twin shrugged, then picked another strawberry. “I’m not sure yet. There’s a lot of paperwork that goes into maintaining a unit after all, so when school starts we can maybe work that out once we get the papers we need.” He set his basket down, then turned his head towards Midori, still standing stoic. “And Ryuseitai?”

Midori was quiet for a while. “It’ll be different this year for sure…”

The other made no effort to interrupt.

“It’s like… the unit will feel completely different without him.” Midori sighed. “It’s funny to think that the day I’ve wanted for a whole year, the day Morisawa-senpai leaves my life, suddenly becomes the day I never wanted to face…”

Yuuta hummed lowly. “Isn’t he the one who would constantly try to pep you up and was always doting on you?”

Midori nodded. “Yep… the thing is, I always hated how he would do those things with me, trying to make me smile and whatever… but now, I realize that I’ll never have that again, and I kinda miss it…”

Yuuta stood up and wandered over to Midori’s side. “So that’s why you were telling me to cherish having Aniki be so affectionate towards me, huh…”

“Yep… one day, you’ll lose that and you’ll end up missing it, whether you think you will or not…” He fell silent for a moment, then turned towards Yuuta. “Yuuta-kun, what’s it like having an older brother like Hinata-kun?”

Yuuta quietly chuckled. “It’s a little crazy, for starts. He’s always so affectionate, which is pretty annoying most of the time. We’ve had our fair share of misunderstandings, but… at the end of the day, I still appreciate him being there for me, whether I’m in the mood to admit it or not.” He smiled up at Midori. “Surely it can’t be much different than you and your Morisawa-senpai. We’re always getting ganged up on by that certain person in our lives, aren’t we?”

Midori found himself smiling, and he softly laughed. “I suppose…” He grabbed his basket of strawberries and opened one of the doors leading out of the enclosed plantation. Before he closed the door from the outside, he looked to his companion. “Yuuta-kun, do you wanna take a little break? We’re almost finished, anyway…”

Yuuta let out a little noise of confusion. “Shouldn’t we finish first so we don’t have to worry about it later?”

The taller of the two flashed a somewhat playful smile. “It’s fine… we don’t have much left to do, and even if we don’t get finished, I can just handle the rest by myself tomorrow… c’mon, bring your basket with you. Don’t let the bugs get to it first...”

“Uh, okay.” Yuuta bent down to scoop up his basket quickly and left from the door Midori had been holding open.

The two didn’t stray very far from the plantation, as Midori stopped the two near a cherry blossom tree close to the enclosure, its pastel petals in full bloom. Midori sat down on the soft grass and set his wicker basket next to him, and Yuuta did the same. The sun was already starting to set on their afternoon of working, petals occasionally falling down and fluttering in the sunlight.

Yuuta took a strawberry from his basket and played with it between his hands. “So, are you ready for the new school year, Midoki-kun?”

Midori sighed, his head on his hand. “Not really… I don’t know if I can really see myself having as much fun as I did last year, now that Morisawa-senpai and Shinkai-senpai are gone…”

The shorter of the two leaned forward a bit to take a fruit from Midori’s basket and compared the two in his hands. “Surely they’ll come and visit you at some point like your Morisawa-senpai did a few day ago when we were working, right? And even if they don’t, I’m sure you’ll find some enjoyment without them.”

“I suppose… but the thing is-”

He was interrupted by a strawberry being shoved into his mouth. He looked over to Yuuta, who had a mischievous yet gentle smile on his face, cheeks dusted pink.

Yuuta stared at Midori for a bit with that smile, then it faded. “Oh, did you not like that? I just figured with how you said you missed being treated by your old unit leader, I thought I’d… y’know… try to maybe cheer you up by doing something he would.” He sighed. “That was a mistake on my part, I’m sorry about that, Midori-kun… I should’ve known better, I’m not him and-”

His hasty apology was shut down by Midori putting a finger on his lips. When Yuuta looked up again, he saw Midori smiling at him, a genuine smile.

“No need to apologize, Yuuta-kun…” He laughed. “If I can be honest, I… I actually kinda liked it when you did that…”

Yuuta’s words caught in his throat, and he let a small squeak escape and buried his face in his knees. He didn’t dare look at Midori after that, he just couldn’t bring himself to: was it embarrassment or shame he felt? As he felt his face set on fire, something cool was poking on his cheek. He cracked a tightly-shut eye open to peer over to Midori…

He was holding a strawberry and gently smiling. He made a little gesture at Yuuta, and poked the strawberry against his cheek again.

Yuuta lifted his head up from his knees and found himself unable to hide a smile. He lowered his knees down so they were gently hugging his chest, and he opened his mouth. Midori put the strawberry in Yuuta’s mouth and let him bite into it: it wasn’t one of the sweeter strawberries, but one of the more bitter ones, the ones Yuuta liked to eat.

Yuuta grabbed another strawberry from Midori’s basket and held it up to him. “Hey, Midori-kun?”

Midori, who was still smiling, leaned forward and took a bite from the strawberry idly hanging between Yuuta’s fingers. “Mhmm?”

“Can you promise me you won’t tell Aniki anything I’m about to say?”

Midori took a strawberry and held it near Yuuta. “I promise.”

Yuuta took the strawberry from Midori’s hand, took it into his own, and ran a finger down the side of the fruit. “So… I don’t really know how to word this. I mean, I’ve heard you’ve had so many other people tell you this, so I’m not really sure how to say it without sounding… y’know, like them? All those girls who leave you love letters.”

The taller of the two found his face burning red. “Who told you that-”

“Shinobu-kun knows a thing or two about you.” Yuuta took a deep breath in, then exhaled while still examining the strawberry in his hand. “But anyway… uh…” He looked away from the strawberry, and over to Midori with a nervous grin. “I kinda… like you, y’know?” He quickly looked away and took a bite from the strawberry he held. “Since our units did lots of joint lives together, I always saw you, and I thought you were really cute… it’s like I couldn’t not like you even if I tried.”

Midori stared at Yuuta for a good while, almost like he was absorbing the information that had just hit him. It was weird: he was used to a lot of students at school admiring his looks and even calling him handsome because of it, and what Yuuta had said was right; he did gets lots of love letters from the girls around him, asking for dates but bailing as soon as they found out how “boring” he was, as described by himself.

But having someone actually like him? It was rare when he was faced with that situation. It was like he didn’t know what to do.

Midori grabbed a berry from the basket and held it up between him and Yuuta. “Yuuta-kun?”

Yuuta didn’t turn his head to face Midori’s voice, but continued to stare off at the trees in the distance, pink flowers kissed gold by the setting sun. “Yeah?” His tone of voice was low; he must’ve thought he blew it.

“I think I kinda like you too.”

The moment those words touched Yuuta’s ears, he swung his head over to stare at Midori and the strawberry between them. Midori was still smiling.

Yuuta leaned a little closer to the strawberry between them. He saw Midori bring the fruit a little closer to him in return. He opened his mouth a bit to motion that he was going to eat the strawberry, and leaned forward again.

Except it was way forward, past the strawberry and right on top of Midori, lips pressed onto his.

He tasted sweet, like the strawberries they had been sharing together. Usually, he would reject all and any kind of sweet tasting substances, but this sweet… it was a sweet he enjoyed. It was a sweet he’d be willing to try and like. And he liked this sweet.

Yuuta pulled back, arms still around Midori’s neck. He stared at him, not knowing what to say next. Did he mess up? Was Midori not ready for that kind of affection yet? He felt his hands shaking behind Midori’s neck.

“I-I’m so sorry, Midori-ku-”

“Yuuta-kun, hush.” Midori was still flat on his back, but he lifted a finger and placed it on Yuuta’s lips. “You don’t need to apologize, Yuuta-kun…”

Yuuta tried to open his mouth, but Midori tapped his finger against his lips again.

“Yuuta-kun, I…” Midori trailed off, but then smiled. And then he started to laugh quietly. And then he started to laugh, to really laugh. If not for Yuuta still on top of him, he would’ve been rolling with laughter.

“Midori-kun, why are you laughing at me?!”

Midori calmed down a bit and stared at Yuuta in the eyes. “I’m not laughing at you, Yuuta-kun! I’m just… happy, y’know?” He giggled for a few moments afterwards. “I’m happy, Yuuta-kun…” He was quiet again at first, but soon devolved into laughter again.

It was weird to see Midori this happy, let alone laughing. But after all of the joint lives between their units, Yuuta did start to notice that Midori was changing throughout the year: he was becoming happier with being in Ryuseitai. Perhaps he was happier as a person too?

Whatever it was, it was cute.

Yuuta let out a shaky breath and continued to hold his stare with Midori. Slowly, he felt his grimace melt away, and a small smile trail his lips, before slowly starting to find Midori’s condition contagious, first quiet chuckles, but becoming boisterous laughter. All the worries, doubts, and fears he had before were dispelled in just one moment, letting go of Midori and rolling to the side of him. Above them, cherry blossom petals danced in the chilly breeze, and the wind carried the fresh scent of flowers and strawberries.

They lay beside each other for a moment or two, catching their breath with the occasional giggle here or there. Midori looked to his right, where Yuuta was looking right back at him. His cheeks and nose were a light red, either due to the cold or all the emotions he had experienced. His orange sunkissed hair rustled around with the wind at times, little pieces of his hair falling in front of his eyes. His lips traced a gentle smile on his face.

Yuuta’s calm and content demeanor vanished in place of worry with a little gasp. “Midori-kun, what about the rest of the strawberries?”

Midori sighed, but not like he usually did: a sigh of relief, almost. “I can finish that up tomorrow… I’d rather stay here than do anything else.”

Yuuta gazed at Midori, red cheeks and windswept hair, blue eyes glistening with the fading sunlight. It was odd seeing Midori, who never often smiled, gently grinning at him.

Slowly, Yuuta's hand fumbled around in the grass, first grabbing hold of the sleeve of his green jacket, but finally finding Midori's hand.

“Oh, uh… can we?”

The moment after asking, Yuuta felt Midori’s hand move, his fingers finding his way between his own.

“I don’t see why not.”

Cherry blossom petals fluttered over them, in front of the warm lavender sky they looked towards with hands together.

Perhaps this year wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> i thought of this ship at 1am last week but im already neck deep i made an ao3 account just to post this (i'll post more stuff dw)
> 
> thank you for reading my gay garbage please consider midoyuu
> 
> catch me on twitter @skiittlebox im very active there
> 
> have a great day ★


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